Principal Character Designer

🎨 Senior Concept Artist / Character Designer – 3D Animated Series / Film

Location : India (Hybrid / Remote)

Experience : 6–12 years | Domain : 3D Animation / VFX / CG Feature / Episodic

🎬 About the Role

We’re looking for a Senior Concept & Character Artist who can translate story ideas and scripts into visually stunning, production-ready art for our 3D animated series and features.

You’ll work closely with directors, art directors, and technical teams to define the look, mood, and identity of the project — from early thumbnails to final character design sheets.

Your work will directly inform modeling, surfacing, and lighting teams, so understanding how art translates into 3D is key.

🧩 Key Responsibilities

🎨 Concept & Visual Development

Create early thumbnails, value studies, and composition sketches that explore mood, storytelling, and camera framing.

Develop concept art for characters, props, and environments consistent with the show’s visual tone and style.

Collaborate with the Art Director to shape the visual language (shape, color, texture, silhouette).

Produce quick mood frames / keyframes / look frames to communicate the film’s emotional and visual tone.

🧍♂️ Character Design

Design compelling, story-driven characters that are visually appealing and animation-friendly.

Create detailed character design packs — including orthographic turnarounds, expression sheets, viseme charts, and pose sheets.

Explore costume, accessory, and prop variations with material references and color palettes.

Deliver clean line art and callouts that guide modelers, riggers, and texture artists.

Work with 3D artists to ensure designs translate effectively into modeling and rigging stages.

🧠 Pre-Production Collaboration

Support the creation of the Style Bible and Color Script with consistent design logic.

Ensure visual continuity across sequences and character appearances.

Participate in visual reviews and refine concepts based on creative and technical feedback.

Understand how 2D art connects to 3D pipeline artifacts (model sheets, lookdev assets, render outputs).

🧰 Required Skills & Experience

CategoryRequirements

Artistic SkillsStrong fundamentals in composition, anatomy, proportion, perspective, and color theory.

SoftwareExpert in Photoshop / Procreate / Clip Studio Paint. Familiarity with Blender, ZBrush, or SketchUp for 3D blockouts.

DeliverablesAbility to produce thumbnails, turnarounds, expression sheets, and final concept packs.

Color & LightingUnderstanding of lighting for storytelling, tone, and readability (works with color scripts & LUTs).

CommunicationComfortable annotating work for 3D teams, using proper naming and file conventions.

Production AwarenessKnowledge of full animation pipeline (Modeling → Rigging → Animation → Lighting → Comp).

🌈 Nice to Have

Experience with Style Bible creation or look development.

Prior work in feature films, long-form series, or high-end CG projects.

Familiarity with ShotGrid / Ftrack asset tracking and versioning.

Basic 3D or lighting knowledge (helps in visualizing volume and mood).

Understanding of ACES color management or studio color workflows.

🚀 What You’ll Get

Opportunity to define the visual DNA of global-quality animated IPs.

Work directly with creative directors and top-tier technical teams.

Creative ownership and cross-department collaboration.

Competitive compensation and hybrid work flexibility.

A studio culture built on art excellence, mentorship, and innovation.